I'm so sorry for the late update! I apologize for that, I had kinda a busy week... Anyways, please not me of spelling/grammatical errors and please enjoy!
"Clint!"
The archer responded to hearing his name by turning his head to the side, seeing Natasha and Steve standing in the doorway, Natasha aiming her gun on Thor already. Steve looked horrified, and ran back into the alley. Natasha looked sternly at Thor, who stopped trying to bring down the broken bottle on Clint's neck. Clint was still trying to push him off, to no avail.
"Thor. Listen to me. We are not your enemies, and so is agent Barton. Put the bo-" She didn't got to finish her sentence. Thor jumped from Clint, running towards the her, roaring while doing so. She shot him several times before he got near her, but that didn't stop him. Still she remained calm and remained with her gaze on the raging god.
Suddenly something flew past her, spinning and heading fast towards Thor, who got hit by Steve's shield in the middle of his tracks. The shield did some impact on Thor, hitting him in his stomach zone, but it did not bring him down. Instead he looked around to the avengers surrounding him, as if he were confused and did not know who to attack.
A voice made him snap from his thoughts. "Thor!" Natasha had brought her second gun out, both of them now trained on the thunder god. The blonde god snapped his head to the side, and looked first at her, and then Steve, back to her.
He went for Steve.
Steve reached out behind his shoulder, quickly, but his eyes widened when he noticed there was nothing. His shield lay down a couple of meters were Clint lay, but it was too late to grab it. Thor was on him already, grabbing his neck and pushing him forward, making Steve stumble all way. Steve struggled to not much avail. A second later his head was bashed against Stark's wall. He groaned in pain, trying to punch Thor off, but the result was being bashed into the wall again, Thor growling and grunting in his ear.
Suddenly Thor's hands were hauled from him, and the Norse god managed to tear away parts of his suit before being lifted into the air. Hulk grinned, taking delight in the fact that he got to smash another deity into the floor again. Thor only got to give away another snarl before his body ended up in the floor.
Steve slowly got up, still slightly in shock. He almost died there. He heard Hulk roaring, and Thor's yells of frustration grow slowly softer. Then he looked at Natasha, who still had her eyes focused on Thor. She nodded, and he looked at where Thor was supposed to be. He found what he expected. The Norse god was embedded in the floor, pieces of it laying scattered around, smashed by an incredible force. Steve noticed he was unconscious too.
"Get him in that cage." He said. "We don't want another Asgardian getting loose on the city."
"I guess I'm too late to do anything helpful in here?" Tony's voice sounded from the hallway. He had to put on his suit first, and then he had to run upstairs since he didn't want to pay another new window again. The old broken ones had just been replaced!
Steve looked at Tony, sighed and put his head in his hands. "No Tony, you're not useful around here now." He mumbled, the sounds muffled into his hands. Tony pouted at him. "well, I guess I'll bring Blondie to the cage then." He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to where Thor lay, and picked him up with ease. He left the room shortly after.
"You okay, Clint?" Natasha said as she pulled him upwards by his hand. "Yeah, I guess so. 'Bit roughed up, that's all. Maybe a couple of bruises." Clint replied, brushing with his hands over his upper arms.
"So, what do we do now?" He asked after.
"We wait for Thor to wake up, of course. and we let him explain." Bruce had shrunken back to his non-hulked form, and was standing naked in the chamber, awkwardly covering himself of what was left of his pants.
Clint turned around. "I think the chitauri might have to do something with this." He said, Natasha giving him a weird look. "Well, actually I'm sure of it." He added. "Thor's eyes were blue, and not the blue he always has, no, I'm talking about the Tesseract blue."
Bruce listened, taking interest in what Clint had to say. "It wouldn't be strange at all." Tony returned. "Thor's safely put away, I told Jarvis to keep an eye on him." He said, letting his armor unclasp itself and from into a small suitcase, in this case a literal suit-case.
"Guys, I need to report to Shield. Fury's been keeping an eye on the hulk around lately." Natasha sighed. "I need to be there in a few moments, he'll probably want an explanation of what has happened here." She put back her revolvers and walked out of the room, Clint looking at her as she left.
"You really like her, eh, don't you?" Tony grinned. Clint gave him nothing but a stern look, and Bruce tried to ignore it as much as possible.
"Sir, I have to report you that Mr. Odinson has awakened." Jarvis metallic voice echoed through the room. "Bruce, you get some clothes, Clint, you're coming with me to see Thor." With those words Tony picked up his suitcase from the floor with one swift motion, before leaving the room, theatrically closing the door behind him.
"He never learns, does he?" Clint said, and Bruce stared him for a moment before they both burst out in laughing.
Loki didn't cry. Loki didn't cry when he felt the whip strike him for the second time. he knew it had only just begun. As long as they didn't bring out the hot water, he would be fine... As long as they didn't...
But they always did. Every single time he was brought into the room, they poured hot scalding water on him. Most of the times they did it it would land on his already teared and bloodied back, making him scream out in pain, and writhe on the floor for relief, for something that could ease the pain. And every time he was tortured he thought to himself. 'Why?'
After at least two weeks, he counted, he still had not discovered the reason for his torment. And he slowly started giving up to try to find one. He deserved this, he was sure. Why else would mother have cried out in horror as soon as she saw him? Why else would Thor have brought him here? The mischief god thought about how he always had told lies, and how this would be his penance. He cried at the thought of it. At least the cold had become less after the first few tortures. He wondered why.
He fiddled with the chains his hands were bound with, trying to pry them open, for some reason. The god found it uncomfortable that after all the tortures they would still bind them behind his back.
Suddenly he heard his cell-door open. He wondered what he had done to make them torture him after only such a short period of resting. He felt the usual rough hands grab him and drag him out, hauling him through what he knew to be hallways. At the usual corner they would turn right, but this time they didn't. Where were they headed to? Loki wondered.
After a long time of being dragged and hauled towards a place he did not know, the hands holding him suddenly dropped him. Pain flashed through his body as he felt how his legs gave away the second he was put down. He howled softly through his seamed lips, noises to complain about his rough treatment. it was never to avail, of course, but the dark haired god still had hope. Then he heard a metallic slamming sound and he knew he had just been brought to another cell.
He then rolled over to his side, trying to remember what Asgard looked like. He found this had become a daily ritual, everyday trying to find his way back into his memories, remembering all the warm smiles Thor had given him during their youth. He never noticed how the tears rolled from his closed eyelids.
He was soon asleep after.
"Our master grows restless... He will make you fear all that is left, and you will bow in his presence!" A sharp rasping voice hissed, the sound going from his ear though his whole body, making him anxious. Loki tried to talk, to make a sound, but he couldn't!
"You think we deem your agony here enough to pay for our loss?!" The voice screeched at him.
"When we find you, it will be too late for you to ever have hope again..."
Loki awoke in sweat, both his eyes and mouth hurting. Another nightmare, he silently thought. Each time he woke up from them, alone and afraid the monsters would get to him, and he soundlessly wept on the floor at thought. His heart rate sped up. He curled in on himself, trying to make him as little as possible when he heard the door open. They were here to get him! They would leave him a dead and mindless body when they were done! Worse, they would never be done! Loki scrunched his eyes even more shut, even though it hurt him enough to whimper softly.
He sagged in relief when he felt the all too familiar hands on him, nearly crying from the stress he endured. He was hoisted up from the stone floor, and he felt how his feet were dragged over it again as he was pulled towards the probably new torture chamber. He was crying by the time they got there, but nit from fear. He was glad this time the monsters didn't get him. As he was strapped against the wall, he thought about his nightmare.
And his eyes widened as he made a realization. The voice had spoken of him losing something, something so important they would torture him for losing it. But what? His chains jingled as he moved them around, trying to get a grip on something and find a relief in holding it in a crushing grip. He found nothing to hold on. The whip struck merciless.
Thor was already up when Tony came in. He looked utterly lost. "Stark, please tell me..." Thor looked with a distraught expression at him. "Why..." He hesitated when he saw the engineer glaring at him. "Why am I in here?" Thor looked with his blue eyes to Tony, who remained in silence.
Tony stepped a bit around, as if he couldn't find the right place to stand, and then looked at Thor. "You went kinda crazy out there. You attacked Clint a-"
"I did not such thing! I took my brother to Asgard and came back to- ..." Thor frowned, and Tony could see his brain working hard to regain the memories.
"I don't remember..." Thor looked to the floor, blue eyes wet and his hair still tousled from the fight. "I don't know what I did here after I arrived..." He looked to Tony with a sad and confused expression.
Tony stepped closer to the cage, it was the same as they had put Loki in. When Tony had brought the blonde down, he also made sure he had put shackles on his arms as well. they were chained in front of him though, he didn't want to make it any worse than it already was.
"Tony!" Clint's shout arrived to His ears shortly after he heard the door open and close. The archer and Steve came in, wearing different clothes. "It took you two long to get here." Tony said, crimping an eyebrow upwards.
"We changed clothes. Steve got some bloody spots on his." Clint quickly explained. He then looked to Thor, who was still at the same place. Then it struck the archer. Thor was sorry for fighting him. He stepped a little closer to the glass wall, looking at the unusual expression on the Norse thunder god.
"Hey, buddy, it's okay. we understood what happened, and Steve's not mad at you either. We're okay." he said, trying to reassure Thor, who looked slightly more upwards than before.
The door was opened again and a clothed Bruce Banner stepped, taking in all who were standing there before he entered the room further. He nudged his glasses a little and looked at the cage. "So, how's everyone doing in here? I brought Natasha with me here too." He said before the Black widow enter the room in her attire.
Clint visibly lighted up seeing her. He nearly flew towards her and hugged her, Natasha ignoring the kind gesture. "You reported fast." He plainly said. Natasha remained cool and looked at Thor, who was staring back at her and the archer clinging to her. "Thor." She used his name to get his attention even more. "I need you to tell me exactly what you remember." She said sternly.
Thor nodded and begun telling her how he remembered how he brought Loki to Asgard, and that he had persuaded the Einherjar to let Loki see his mother once more. Then it started to get difficult, the memories coming in flurries and fits of what happened, and before he got to the part where he had taken Loki out of his mother's quarters it ended. He did simply not know more.
"So, what you're basically saying is that you were zero percent in control of your actions upstairs?" Bruce asked after the other Avengers had told their story to Thor. Thor nodded as a reply. "Then Loki was not either. But that's not what bugs me. It bugs me that the chitauri are still out there, waiting for an opportunity to attack us!" Tony scowled. "We need to have a back-up plan." Steve added.
The room remained quiet. "Let's get you out, buddy." Clint suddenly spoke, and he walked closer towards the cage, pressing a few buttons on the screen next to it, making the door slide open. "And let's get these of you." He muttered, taking of the chains that bound Thor's arms. Then they both stepped out, Thor looking at his friends with both sadness, confusion but above all of that guilt. Steve patted him on his shoulder as the thunderer walked past the soldier. For a single moment the room was quiet again.
Clint rested back, leaning against Natasha again, who soon pushed him off, giving him a scolding look. Clint looked back with pouting lips. She shook her head.
Then Tony spoke up. "I know how they got in control of Thor." Everyone present looked at him with a surprised expression, save Natasha and Bruce, who both had probably figured it out by now too.
"I know it! Remember that big explosion I caused." Tony looked around, and the team nodded, Clint making a comment in the direction of; "Of course we all do, it was caused by you after all." But the joke didn't lift the atmosphere at all.
"Well, before the explosion moments, " Tony continued. "I saw there was much more than only just the mother ship you saw through the portal. I saw hundreds of those laying further back. It only just didn't occur to me that they wouldn't get caught in the explosion or escape it." Tony took a pause to breathe.
"Uh-uh. Please continue." Bruce looked at him and Tony noticed the notebook he held in his hands. A lot was written there already. So Bruce didn't figure it out, Tony thought quickly to himself before looking back at the rest of the team dramatically. "Okay, so it just occurred to me that the one who controlled Thor, takes advantage of mentally weak people. No offence to you Thor." He glanced to his side, at the blonde god who gave him a slightly angered and confused glare.
"I think Thor was devastated by hearing his brother's punishment. You all know what he told us at the shawarma." He explained then. Thor had told nearly his entire life story there, including Loki's and since no one else was in the mood to talk then, they had listened to him.
"And from what he told us about Loki- He tried to commit suicide. If that's not mentally weak..." Tony didn't finish the last part. They all looked to Thor now, who had gone pale. Steve stepped closer to the thunder god. "Thor?" He hesitated. Thor's eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"Loki..." Nobody could hear it, but is was the only word that could have been uttered when his lips moved. "Thor, what's wrong?" Natasha altered her head slightly to the side. She stepped closer to him, lowering herself a little so she could see his grieving expression. When she saw tears rolling down his face she looked back to the others, shaking her head and giving a worried expression, making clear something was very wrong.
Thor's breath hitched. "My br-brother..." He couldn't just form the words.
"H-he is to be t-tortured for the r-.. Rest of his l-life." He finally got the words out, nearly crying out in agony as he realized what his words meant.
The other Avengers all understood what that meant. Loki was innocent, and had not been in control of his actions during the New York invasion, but now he was, and he was suffering greatly, perhaps to greatly for them to imagine. It was a horrible idea to think that they had delivered an innocent man to torture.
They were all still trying to comprehend it, trying to process what they just had perceived when Thor ran away. "Thor! Wait!" Natasha shouted after him. "We don't know yet if yo-" Her voice was cut off for Thor as he reached the room upstairs, closing the doors behind him. He knew the balcony was outside the living room, and he started to speed up his tempo.
Then he reached the balcony outside, and he roared towards the sky for Heimdall to activate the Tesseract to get him back to Asgard. Thor found himself lucky Heimdall had been following him with his gaze and saw everything that had happened on Midgard. The blue light engulfed him soon, and the Avengers were just in time upstairs to see how Thor disappeared from the balcony outside, taking their only answers to the questions they had left with him.